EU Places Sanctions on Syrian Petroleum Product Exports

The 27-members of the European Union have agreed that the organization will embargo all imports of Syrian crude oil and petroleum products, including the financing and insurance in the shipping of oil from Syria. Europe is the largest market for Syrian oil, accounting for 95% of Syria’s exports. Oil is also one of Syria’s key exports, accounting for approximately 25% of its national income.

Syria has two ports where petroleum products are handled:

Banias Oil Terminal – has six submarine oil pipelines extending from the coast, loading and off-loading crude oil and petroleum products. Approximately 330 vessels visit the port annually with a capability to load tankers up to 130,000 DWT and to discharge tankers up to 97,000 DWT.

Tartous – has two berths for loading heavy crude oil. Tartous can handle tankers up to 120,000 DWT. Loading at Tartous is by gravity and the rate depends on the height of tank and level of oil in the tank as well as tanker itself.

Of course one of the difficulties with imposing such sanctions is the ability to monitor the arrival, departure, and subsequent port calls for tankers that have visited either of these two Syrian ports.

Since sanctions have been in place, AIS tracking has shown that there have been three petroleum product carrying tankers that have called to Syria.

1) Cyprus Flagged, Chemical/Oil Product Tanker, MOUNT ROBSON departed Banias Sep 7th and declared its next destination as Limassol, Cyprus. It has been anchored in Limassol Port since Sep 12th.

2) Panamanian Flagged, Chemical Tanker, NORNA N departed Tartous Sep 7th and declared its next destination as Mersin, Turkey and is currently carried by AIS in port Mersin.

Monitoring vessel movements via AIS tracking does not provide the complete story for Sanctions Monitoring but it allows agencies, organizations, and national authorities a place to start to ensure that their interests stay aligned with the group, in this case the European Union.

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About Paul Kerstanski

With over 35 years experience of Air Force, Naval, and civilian career experience, Paul is responsible for market development and acts as GreenLine’s lead Subject Matter Expert for our Defense and Intelligence customers with a focus on solutions for Maritime Security Cooperation and Information Sharing.
As a U.S. Naval Officer, Paul was the sole U.S. Navy contact with numerous high-level foreign and U.S. civilian maritime officials in the Persian Gulf. As a result of his extensive work in the Middle East, Paul possesses a working knowledge of the Arabic Language and in-depth understanding of the region.
Additionally, Paul managed major upgrades to large analytical systems, requiring close coordination with program managers, contractors, and Navy support organization personnel during implementation and deployment. Under Paul’s leadership, Interim Authority to Operate (IATO) and Final Authority to Operate (FATO) were achieved for the Navy’s main maritime analytical system.
Paul holds a BA in Political Science from The Ohio State University and a MA in International Security Studies from the Naval War College.